Sep 14, 2023

Sunish Sharma, founder and managing director, Kedaara Capital Homegrown private equity player Kedaara Capital has struck another large bet, days after making one of its largest transactions in recent times. The PE firm has signed a fat cheque for a significant minority stake in K12 Techno Services Pvt. Ltd, which runs the chain of Orchids International Schools, as per a press statement. The transaction will also provide a partial exit to Peak XV (erstwhile Sequoia Capital India), one of K12’s existing institutional investors. While the financial details of the transaction were kept undisclosed by the parties, two people aware of the development told VCCircle that Kedaara has likely invested around Rs 1,300-1,500 crore ($156-180 million) in the Bengaluru-based K-12 school chain operator. Advertisement "India has over 260 million students enrolled in the K-12 segment, that aspire for accessible, holistic education. K12 Techno has helped schools bridge this gap by leveraging technology and process orientation," said Sunish Sharma , founder and managing partner, Kedaara Capital . K12 Techno Services was incorporated in March 2010 by M Venkatanarayana and his son MSC Srikanth to provide education services to state board schools under the name Sri Gowtham Academy of General and Technical Education (SGATE). The company was loss-making as it provided services to low-cost state board schools. In 2016, the promoters exited the company, and it was acquired by Sequoia Capital and Navneet Learning. Advertisement Under the new management, K12 Techno Services provides management services to ICSE/CBSE curriculum schools from kindergarten to X-XII, based in large metros like Bengaluru and Mumbai under the brand name, ‘Orchid, The International School’. The company currently provides full stack education, content, and technology services to more than 900 educational institutions across the country through a combination of its own brand and a curriculum and technology platform. While Navneet and Sequoia have been investors for almost a decade, Sofina came around in 2020 with an investment of Rs 199.4 crore. In 2021, SoftBank-backed Unacademy invested Rs 159.9 crore (around $20 million) in the company. Advertisement Notably, K12 Techno has recently shut its animation division for the sake of "rationalisation," and laid off 50 employees in the process. It also operates business-to- business (B2B) vertical Lets Eduvate, and e-commerce store SparkleBox. Meanwhile, Kedaara Capital has been active throughout this week. On Monday, it announced an investment of $229 million (around Rs 1,900 crore) in fintech-focussed software-as-a-service (SaaS) company Perfios Software Solutions . Advertisement Some of the Kedaara's recent bets include beauty and personal care e-commerce platform Purplle, education-focused lender Avanse Financial Services, dermatology chain Oliva Skin & Hair Clinic and Oasis Fertility. The private equity firm had raised about $1.1 billion for its third fund in 2021 and has invested about $600 million across six investments so far, leaving about $500 million to be deployed across four to six companies. Advertisement